SYSTEMATIC BOTANY OF PEAS. AND THEIR ALLIES 



11 



Seeds black, impressed at the hilum. This is said to be the wild 

 form. 

 2) var. fusruni Alef. Bonplandia. 9:67. 1861. 



Seeds rather small, reddish brown, much impressed. 

 31 var. rliytido.sperimim Jaub. & Spach. ///. PI. Orient. 1 :83. 

 1842. — var. cruentum Alef. Bonplandia. 9:67. 1861. 



Seeds blood red, almost globular. 



The plants of the second race have white flowers; 

 here belong the following varieties: 



41 var. sativum Beck, in Reichb. Ic. PI. Germ. 22:207. 1903. 

 — Cicer sativum Schk. Hdb. 2:367. 1796. C. arietinum var. 

 mocrocorpum Jaub. 8s Spach. Ann. Sc. Nat. II. 18:226. 1842. 

 var. album Alef. Oester. Bot. Ztg. 9:356. 1859. C. album 

 Hort., ex. Alef. I.e. 



Pods attenuate near the base; seeds white, slightly impressed. 

 5) var. globosum Alef. Oester. Bot. Zeits. 9:356. 1859.— C. 

 rotundum Jord. fide Alef. I.e. 



Seeds orange yellow, almost globular. 



Possibly native of western Asia; since remote 

 times cultivated in all countries bordering the Mediter- 

 ranean, in northern Africa as far south as Abyssinia; in 

 Europe especially in Spain, southern France and Italy; 

 and in America in all the old Spanish settlements; often 

 escaped from cultivation and occurring as a weed in fields. 



It seems that Cicer was known to the Phoeniceans 

 and through them came to Greece, Italy, and Spain; 

 there is no indication, however, that it was cultivated 

 in ancient Egypt, nor has it been found in the remains 

 of prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland or elsewhere, 

 like the pea and the lentil. 



The plant is glandular viscid all over and contains 

 oxalic acid. It is used in southern Europe to poison fish. 



The seeds of Cicer are farinaceous and somewhat 

 bitter; they are eaten boiled, roasted, or ground as 

 flour for puddings and cakes or for thickening soups. 

 They are especially esteemed in Spain and the Spanish 

 settlements. 



In India the secretions of the plants are collected 

 by spreading a cloth over them during the night, and 

 the liquid thus obtained is used as vinegar or for forming 

 a cooling drink. 



2. VICIA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PL 734. 1753. 



Erect, climbing or precumbent herbs, with leaves mostly 

 ending in tendrils; flowers axillary or in peduncled one-sided racemes, 

 varying from white to yellowish, pink, purplish or blue; calyx 

 tube oblique at the base, teeth almost equal; petals mostly with a 

 short claw, standard obovate and notched, wings obliquely oblong, 

 keel attached to their middle, shorter, curved; ovary with two to 

 many ovules; seeds various, globular to ovate or ± compressed. 



There are about 150 species, natives of the north 

 temperate zone, a few also in South America. The 

 only important species cultivated as a vegetable is the 

 Broad bean — Vicia Faba. 



Vicia Faba L. Sp. PI. 737. 1753.— Faba vulgaris 

 Moench, Meth. 150. 1794. Faba Faba (L.) House, 

 N. Y. State Mus. Bull. No. 254. 457. 1924. Broad 



bean, Windsor bean, English dwarf bean, horse bean; 

 Puffbohne, Dicke-bohne, Saubohne, Pferdebohne (Ger- 

 man); fava (Italian); feve, feverole (French). 



Annual herb, with erect, robust and fleshy 4-angled stem, 

 glabrous throughout; stipules semi-sagittate, dentate, with a round 

 dark spot; the leaf rachis ending in a short point; leaflets in 1-3 

 pairs, not always opposite, ovate, obtuse, with a short point, some- 

 what fleshy and glaucous; flowers 3-6 in short stalked racemes or 

 clusters; pedicels short; calyx tubular, the teeth lanceolate, acute, 

 less than half as long as the tube; standard obcordate, whitish, 

 with purplish veins; wings shorter, with a long claw, white with a 

 large round blackish spot; keel blunt, greenish, with a long claw; 

 style bearded below the stigma; pod large and thick, broader near 

 the end, swollen around the seeds, from 6-15 cm long, puberulous, 

 at length becoming black; seeds 2-5, large and flat, imbedded in 

 the spongy, soft inner coat and separated by spongy divisions; dull 

 when ripe, mostly leather-colored or green to red brown, self- 

 colored or spotted, with a large dark oblong hilum. 



Native country not known, probably the regions 

 around the Caspian Sea according to DeCandolle and 

 others. 



There are three varieties recognized: 



1) var. minor Peterm. FI. Lips. 549. 1838. 



Pods thin, terete; seeds 3-4, roundish, 10-13 mm long. 



2) var. equina Pers. Syn. 2:308. 1807.— V. Faba var. fi L. 

 Sp. PI. 737. 1753. Faba equina Medic, Vol. Ch. Phys. 

 Ges. 2:360. 1787. 



Pod thin, terete; seeds 4-5, thick especially near the hilum, 

 oblong, angular. 



3) var. megalosperma Beck FI. Nied-Oester. 873. 1893. 

 — Faba vulgaris var. megalosperma Alef. Bonplandia 9:101. 

 1861. 



Pods short, broad, somewhat compressed; seeds 25-35 mm 

 long, roundish, compressed and with concave sides, thicker around 

 the hilum. 



Alefeld in his Landwirtschaftliche Flora (1866) 

 gives a wide range of varieties or variety groups, and 

 enumerates 42 of them to which he gives Latin names. 

 The varieties exhibit differences in size, shape, and color 

 of the seeds, and also in the color of the flowers. 



The broad bean is not much cultivated as a vege- 

 table in the United States, and probably never will be. 

 It mildews very badly here. 1 It is, however, much 

 grown in Europe, although it is losing in favor there also, 

 since it cannot compete with the kidney bean and be- 

 cause the plants suffer greatly from aphis. 



The broad bean is one of the oldest cultivated 

 plants; seeds found in Swiss lake dwellings have been 

 attributed to the Bronze Age. It was grown by the 

 Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, and Egyptians, and probably 

 by other ancient nations. In Egypt, however, broad 

 beans were considered impure and perhaps were eaten 

 only by the poorer classes. The priests were averse to 

 the beans and did not eat them at all. Broad beans 

 have been known in China and Japan for a long time. 



None of the other vetches are important as vege- 

 tables though many are excellent forage plants and are 



1 A few varieties, however, are offered occasionally by American seedsmen. Among those tried at this Station or reported as 

 available are the following: 



I. Dwarf Fan-podded Types: Early Mazagan, Green Gem, Bell, and another small seeded form incorrectly called Frost Proof Lima. 

 II. Broad Windsor Types: Colossal, Broad Windsor, Green Windsor, Bacon, and January Bean. 

 III. Longpod Types- Early Longpod, Prolific, Seville, and Sword. 

 The reader is referred to the Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society I «:160. 1918i for descriptions of nearly 50 varieties and 

 to a later number of the same journal 18:74 1923 for a much augmented list and a classification of types. 



